VINTAGE (Ventricular Intramyocardial Navigation for Tachycardia Ablation Guided by Electrograms) Using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Catheters

Ventricular arrhythmias cause heart damage or death. Ventricular arrhythmias usually arise from small zones of the heart that contribute a short circuit or errant stimulus. Ventricular arrhythmias may be reduced or abolished by non-surgical catheter procedures to heat and destroy the small portions of the heart that contribute a short circuit or abnormal pacemaker. However, not all portions of the heart can physically be reached for catheter treatment. We have developed a new non-surgical catheter approach called VINTAGE (Ventricular Intramyocardial Navigation for Tachycardia Ablation Guided by Electrograms) to treat ventricular arrhythmias arising from difficult-to-reach portions of the heart. In VINTAGE, catheter tools are moved inside the walls of the beating heart to reach treatment targets. In a small number of patients who failed prior catheter treatment of ventricular arrhythmia, VINTAGE effectively suppressed the ventricular arrhythmia or abnormal pacemaker in most. The purpose of this research protocol is to test VINTAGE more carefully in people with ventricular arrhythmias who have failed prior catheter ablation. In this protocol, we will use catheter tools that are commercially available but are not designed or approved for use in VINTAGE.